


running wild and running free (two kids, you and me)

by orphan_account



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), One Direction (Band)
Genre: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Spoilers, Diviner, Except Zayn, F/F, Girl Direction, Inhumans (Marvel), It's Not Really A Drug though, Kree (Marvel), Non-Consensual Drug Use, Terrigen Crystals, Terrigenesis, The Obelisk (Marvel), he's a boy, it's lipstick
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-21
Updated: 2015-07-21
Packaged: 2018-04-09 18:28:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4359656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"You're on fire," Niall says blankly, eyes wide in fear and something Louis can't identify.<br/>"I <em>know!</em>" Louis shouts back, crying as someone douses her flames with water. It hurts more than the flames ever have. "The Kree temple did this!" </p>
<p>or where three humans enter the temple and only one comes out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	running wild and running free (two kids, you and me)

**Author's Note:**

> The whole Inhuman thing fascinates me, so I gave this a shot. It won't be on the Marvel timeline, though, because dates and times aren't my specialty. They're all S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, but this has no connection to the other AoS one-shot I did.
> 
> It will, however, be a piece in the one-shot series titled 'girl power'. They'll all be girl!direction and very Larry because girls kick ass (and so do boys!). 
> 
> I refer to the Diviner as both "Diviner" and "Obelisk". Don't worry about it too much. 
> 
> Title from 'Renegades' by X Ambassadors.

Louis doesn’t know why she was chosen for this godforsaken team. She may be overly nice, but that does not mean she works well with others! She's a specialist for a reason and that reason is solitude. She likes her privacy and hates responsibility. The scientists on her team are children. Untrained children with weapons and alien tech!

She can't stand them, honestly. They cling disgustingly to each other like long lost souls and they never tell Louis _anything_! It’s her job as the specialist on call to know what the fuck is going on, but they never inform her.

Today is no exception.

She heads down to their lab. She’d slept in longer than usual—it was nearly eight by the time she woke—and she feels quite sickly, like she’d had too much vodka when she hadn't had any at all.   
“Payne,” she says when she enters and the kind-faced girl jumps at her voice.   
“Ah, Louis,” she smiles, plastic, “how are you?”   
“I’m fine.” She says dismissively. “But I’m feeling quite tired and my head hurts like a _bitch_ —” She’s cut off by the loud laughter of Niall, Liam’s scientific counterpart.

Louis rolls her eyes and glances toward the fake blonde.   
“What?” She says, irritated.   
“We, uh,” Liam snickers, “tried a new weapon on you while you slept.”  
“Apparently it works.” Niall adds, laughing.  
“Assholes,” Louis murmurs before she turns around and heads toward the cockpit.

She sits down in the empty seat next to their pilot, Zayn, and sighs.   
“Are you excited?” He asks, turning to grin at her.   
“For what?” Louis murmurs.  
“For the Kree temple! We get to investigate with the Obelisk and everything!” Zayn smiles. “Orders came in late last night. Didn’t Payne tell you?”   
“No,” Louis says grumpily, “because she was too busy shooting me with a tranquilizer gun.”  
“Is that why you’re so late? I’d just assumed you and Styles were busy gettin’ it on.” 

Louis punches him in the arm because she’s an aggressive motherfucker and because Zayn’s too honest sometimes.   
“I...I don’t like her like that!” Louis squeals but they both know she’s lying.

She and Harry have a ‘flirtationship’, as Coulson had called it back when he was alive. They don’t fuck or kiss, but they share inside jokes and lots of supposedly ‘platonic’ touches.

They’re anything but platonic to Louis, but to Harry...not so much.

Zayn laughs at her, and shakes his head.   
“Whatever you say, dude.”

Louis rolls her eyes again and stands.   
“Want some tea?” She asks because she’s also a compassionate motherfucker.

Zayn’s been on the stick for hours, since before Louis went to bed.   
“Please,” Zayn says, sounding exhausted. “I hate restricted airspace because I have to follow all of these goddamn rules and it requires so much effort.”   
“One cuppa coming up.” Louis says tiredly and heads out to make the cup up.  
“Don’t forget the sugar!” Zayn shouts as Louis closes the door.

She always forgets the sugar. It’s never an accident, though.

-

“We’re almost there, guys,” Zayn says over the comms.

Louis smiles at Harry who looks at her, confused.   
“Almost where?” She asks.   
“An alien temple.” Louis grins, rubbing her temple.

Apparently, she’d been shot with an I.C.E.R. at point blank range. Fuck the science nerds, honestly.  
“We’re to investigate and assess... _with_ the Obelisk.”

They’ve had the silver device locked up since they saw what it can do. It's too dangerous for anyone to touch. The person they’d taken it from has been headed toward the Kree temple to ‘save the world’ with it. She'd been mad, of course, but S.H.I.E.L.D. will be S.H.I.E.L.D.. Too curious for anyone's good.

Apparently they think it’s a good idea to take it there and not know what it’s going to do. Stupid, if you ask Louis, but she's not the director nor is she the boss.   
“Oh, shit.” Harry smiles and it’s beautiful. She’s beautiful. The fucking world is beautiful.

Damn Harry’s smiles.   
“I’m excited! I can’t wait to test the hypothesis that it’s not an alien weapon!”

Everyone on the team thinks the Obelisk is some sort of weapon of mass destruction. Everyone except Harry, of course.

She thinks it’s an evolutionary tool.

But Louis is 100% sure it’s a weapon. She tells Harry just that.   
“Wanna bet?” Harry teases.   
“Hell yeah, I do.” Louis smirks back. “What’s your wager?”   
“Um...a date? With me? That is, if you want to.” Harry smiles, nervous.

Louis is taken back, but she keeps her cool. Or at least she tries to.  
“Oh, uh, yeah. Yeah. And if I win, you go on a date with me.” She smiles, just as nervous.   
“It’s a win-win situation!” Harry grins.   
“Now I can’t wait to get back home.” Louis laughs.   
“But think about the discoveries we’ll make in this tunnel! Alien technology, maybe.” Harry looks so enthralled as she describes what might be found inside.

Louis just hopes their human curiosity doesn’t backfire. She’s always been the pessimist, but she really does hope she’s wrong.

It’s another five minutes of flying before Louis feels the jet begin to lower toward the ground. It’s five minutes from then that they gather their things—including the Obelisk—and head out.  
“San Juan is beautiful this time of year, isn’t it?” Liam sighs happily.  
“But the sun is a bastard.” Niall adds. “I’m gonna burn so bad.” 

Louis takes the lull in their conversation to steal the case from her hands.   
“I’ll take that,” Louis says, tough.  
“But—”   
“Maybe you should be more concerned with your heightened chance of skin cancer than whatever’s in this box.” Louis smiles, plastic, and turns to leave.   
“Did you see that?” Niall asks Liam, exasperated. “Just took the bloody Obelisk right from me hands!”   
“What a neanderthal.” Liam retorts and Louis grins proudly, shouting “sunscreen!” over her shoulder.

She nears the rest of the group as she tucks the box into a backpack.   
“Ready?” She asks as she slips it onto her back.  
“This is a team mission,” Zayn announces, “so Payne and Horan will accompany you.”   
“Are you sure that’s wise?” Louis asks. “They’ve not been trained for the field.”   
“It’ll be fine.” Zayn assures. “Harry and I are going to stay on the plane and monitor your vitals and readings from the tunnels while you take Horayne and investigate.”

Louis sighs and spares the two a look. They’re obviously arguing, voices loud over San Juan's calm air.  
“I understand that!” Niall snaps at Liam. “But Amy is so obviously the most important companion!”   
“How do you figure?” Liam sneers.   
“She gives birth to the Doctor’s _wife_!” Niall shouts. “Who saves his life many times!”  
“But Rose saved the Doctor first, since the reinstatement! She brought him back from the brink of _genocide!_ Without her, he’d have never lasted!” Liam uses an extensive series of hand gestures as if they prove her point.   
“Doctor Who? _Really_? We have a weapon of mass destruction and you’re bickering about Doctor Who?!” Louis shakes her head.

She can’t believe those two. For fuck’s sake.

“And it’s so obviously Rose.”

Louis is British, for fuck's sake. How could she have not watched it?!

“Let’s go.” She adds before nodding toward the pathway.

Louis leads the way, I.C.E.R. holstered at her side, along with a very real gun tucked into the waistband of her jeans. Her S.H.I.E.L.D. badge is corded around her neck and obscured by her shirt.   
“I told you,” she hears Liam say and she scoffs.

They’re practically kids.

She leads the children up the pathway and through San Juan. They probably look suspicious as fuck, but she doesn’t care. It’s not like she has any reason to hide anyway.

They reach the Fort of San Cristobal and Louis turns to her children and smiles.   
“Listen to me, okay? If something goes bad, follow my orders.” She says and then leads them inside when they nod.  
“Oh, my.” Liam whispers when they enter and Louis, for once, agrees.

The place has an eerie vibe to it, like many tragic things have happened inside its walls.  
“Did you hear the stories about this place?” Niall whispers.  
“No,” Louis whispers back.

The building has the sort of quiet that shouldn’t be disturbed.   
“Apparently several guards went missing and were never seen again.” Liam recites as she pulls out her scoping tools to map the room.   
“Spooky.” Louis replies and busies herself with unloading the Obelisk.

She opens the silver case and stares at its silver surface. It has an aura of danger and mystery which makes Louis want to touch it.

She, of course, doesn’t want to die, so she refrains and transfers it to the smaller, more portable case with the provided tongs. She locks the case up and cords it around her back.   
“There’s a tunnel below here that goes down for an indeterminable amount of space.” Liam says.   
“We can cut a hole in the floor here with Agent Fitz’s Mouse Hole and then we can assess the tunnel’s depth.” Niall adds, already reaching for the device.   
“Sounds good.” Louis nods. “I’ll start setting up the gear while you…”   
“Already finished.” Niall smiles proudly.   
“Agent Fitz’s inventions really come in handy.” Liam grins.

Louis has never met Fitz, but she’d met Simmons a while back when she was stationed at the Triskelion. Nice girl, though a bit jittery.  
“So it seems.” Louis muses. “Alright, guys, I’ll go down first with the Obelisk and then Horan and then you, Payne.”   
“Yes, ma’am.” Niall salutes.

Louis helps them into their harnesses and then rigs it so she can comfortably slide down with the Obelisk still attached to her. When she’s ready, so un-holsters her gun and snaps one of her glow lights.   
“I’ll yank on this rope three times if it’s clear. Twice if you shouldn’t come down and if I pull just once, you better reel me in fast.” Louis orders. “Okay?”

Liam and Niall nod.   
“One for bring you back up, two for stay, three for send Niall down.” Liam repeats.   
“Good. Hopefully, I’ll see you down there.” Louis salutes them and then begins to rappel down.

Her light doesn’t do much to the inky blackness of the tunnel, but it gives her some comfort to know that it’s not complete darkness.

It’s a long time before she reaches the bottom. When her feet scrape against the ground, she stands and drops another two glow sticks. The cavern lights up and Louis sees writing carved into the floor. She remembers seeing it rise from inside the metal when Jay had turned to stone after touching it.

She reaches down and grazes them with her fingertips, strangely awed. She glances around again and then peeks out into the darkness. She doesn’t see anything or anyone dangerous, so she assumes the nerds will be okay.

Louis yanks on the cord three times and listens to Niall slide down the cord. When she reaches the bottom, Louis can tell something is off. Her body sways and then she kneels on the ground, the circular writing glowing beneath her feet. She releases an agonized scream and Louis inhales sharply, reaching for her only to pull back when she sees the writing raise up from Niall’s skin.  
“ _Niall_?” She calls, desperate. “What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

Niall stands up after a moment, eyes blood red. She doesn’t say anything just stares at Louis as if waiting for something, a command maybe, or some sort of direction.  
“Niall?!” She touches her shoulder delicately. “Hey?”

Niall just stares.

Louis swallows roughly and then yanks the rope twice. She hears the reverberation of Liam’s voice and then nothing.   
“What’s going on?” She asks Niall. “Is it...Kree?”

Niall turns her head to the side, confused.   
“Kree, okay. Kree...um, the Obelisk?” Louis is going to figure this out of it kills her.   
“The Diviner will save us.” Niall says, pure red eyes blinking quickly.   
“How? How will it save us?”   
“The Diviner will save us.” Niall repeats.

Louis sighs dejectedly and pulls out [the Obelisk.](http://lovelace-media.imgix.net/uploads/465/5f22e1a0-40c5-0132-4125-0ebc4eccb42f.jpg?w=780&h=439&fit=crop&crop=faces&q=70) She doesn’t touch it, fearful, and instead shows it to Niall. Niall glances down at it and begins to walk away.

Louis looks at her back, confused out of her fucking mind, and races to catch up with her, closing the case and yanking it along.   
“Niall, goddamn it!” She shouts. “What’s happened to you?!”

Niall just continues walking, steps abnormally equal.

Louis pulls her I.C.E.R. from her holster and thinks about shooting Niall. She decides against it, though, because this is alien stuff and Niall’s only rule was ‘don’t fuck with alien stuff’.

“Bloody hell,” Louis whispers before she bumps into Niall’s back.

The girl’s stopped, it seems, and is staring blankly ahead at an opening.   
“A temple?” Louis asks, Obelisk case banging against her knees.   
“The Diviner will—”   
“Yeah, yeah. Save us.” Louis rolls her eyes. “I get it.”  
“Pick it up.” Niall turns to her and Louis really misses the ring of blue she’d had only an hour earlier. “The Diviner will not hurt the worthy.”   
“Am I...worthy?” Louis frowns.

She’s never been worthy of much. Just a S.H.I.E.L.D. badge and a black belt in too many self-defense classes.   
“Pick it up.” Niall repeats.   
Louis swallows roughly, terrified, and puts the case on the ground. She opens the latches and then stares at the silver death trap.   
“If I die, tell Harry I’m sorry about missing the date.” Louis sighs. “And that I was right.”

She closes her eyes and grabs a hold of it.

Her fingers don’t turn to ash or to stone, the Obelisk doesn’t end her life. She takes in a heavy breath and then laughs.   
“Holy fucking shit!” She says, watching as symbols—the same she’s seen so many times—rise from the metal.

They glow orange and she feels overwhelmed by the possibilities.   
“Go,” Niall instructs and then turns around as if to guard the temple.

Louis looks down, no longer ignorant, and walks inside. She has no idea what the Diviner’s plans are, but she does know that if she leaves with it, Niall will try and kill her.

Louis isn’t sure she could ever shoot Niall with a real gun, so she's stuck.   
“Louis?!” She hears someone shout from a long distance away.

Niall jerks into action, walking off to locate them.

Louis ignores it and steps into the circle.

The room is sectored off with multiple entrances and a circular platform in the center. Louis doesn’t know how, but she knows that she’s supposed to place the Diviner there.

She doesn’t, though, too intent on listening to the ruckus outside. She hears Liam’s shout of discomfort and takes off, Diviner still glowing in her hands.

When she locates Niall, she’s stepping toward someone tall and nimble. Liam.   
“Stop.” Louis says and then, louder, “ _Stop!_ ”

Liam steps back, but Niall keeps on stepping forward, so Louis pulls out her I.C.E.R. and breaks Niall’s only rule.

She fucks with alien stuff.

Niall turns to her, seemingly unaffected by the two rounds of Dendrotoxin Louis had shot into her.   
“Oh, bloody fucking hell.” Louis whispers, seeing the disdain on her face. “Where’s backup when we need it?”  
“What’s wrong with her?” Liam shouts, looking terrified.   
“Something about being unworthy of the city.” Louis answers back, just as terrified. “You must be...like, worthy, too.”   
“Worthy of what?!” Liam snaps.   
“The Diviner! I can...I can hold it.” Louis raises it as proof.  
“Oh, Christ.” Liam says with wide eyes. “How?”   
“I don’t know!” Louis shakes her head.

She’s suddenly very awed, as if the veil of intergalactic knowledge has fallen and she’s ignorant and clear-headed once again. She realizes that she can’t bring the Diviner back inside the temple, but she can’t stop the curiosity burning inside of her.   
“Niall,” Louis says firmly, “stand guard.”

She’s got the Diviner; maybe it works as a control device of some sort.   
“Wait out here.” Louis demands and Niall nods once, sharp, before turning her back to them.

Liam runs to Louis’ side immediately, reaching around her to hug her. The Obelisk in Louis’ hand bumps Liam’s arm and, before Louis notices, begins to turn her to stone.   
“No, Liam, no!” She croons when Liam cries out in pain, dropping the Obelisk carelessly and reaching for the girl.

Her entire lower arm’s been turned to stone already. Louis can’t believe she’d been so goddamn _stupid!_ And fucking careless!  
“I’m sorry, Liam, fuck. I’m so sorry.” She hugs the girl close, barely keeping it together.

Hours ago, she’d have told you she couldn’t care less about Liam, but she’d have been lying. She loves everyone on their team because they’re her family.

And now she’s gone and damned one of them.   
“Fuck,” Liam hisses and Louis knows it hurts so, so bad.   
“Can I cut it off?” Louis asks, hurried.

There’s only a bit of time before Liam’s shoulder becomes stone and then there’s nothing Louis can do.   
“No,” Liam shakes her head, “it would be pointless.”   
“What if it’s like The Walking Dead’s plague? Where the limb can be amputated? I have that knife you designed.” Louis is frazzled, terrified.

Her hands shakes as she grips Liam tight with them.   
“It doesn’t matter.” She smiles, agonized. “It’s okay, Lou, it really is.”   
“No, it’s _not_.” Louis shakes her head, eyes wet.

She hadn’t cried when her mum died, but here she is, weeping over a girl she’d supposedly hated two hours ago.  
“It is.” She grips Louis’ forearm with her healthy hand, so weak. “I want you to know...that I...only fucked with you because you seemed so cool and I wanted to break down your icy...exterior.”   
“I was only icy because I thought you were trying to pick at my myriad of insufficiencies.” Louis would wrap herself around Liam and shield her from the Obelisk’s destructive forces if she could.

She’d take Liam’s punishment because that’s who she is. That’s why she joined S.H.I.E.L.D.. To save people.

“What insufficiencies?” Liam laughs, pained. “Tell Niall I’m sorry.”

Louis will I.C.E. the shit out of Niall’s alien-possessed body just to get her to the surface. She’ll have a whole S.H.I.E.L.D. med team to fix Niall and giver her her blue eyes back.

Louis will spend the rest of her life trying to fix the biggest mistake of her life.

She’d murdered an innocent.   
“For what?” She asks instead of crying.  
“For saying no.” Liam looks away from a moment, tears on her face as she whimpers in pain. “She...admitted to liking me, you know? And I...I didn’t feel that way about her.”   
“Do you now?”   
“Sorta, kinda, yeah.” Liam laughs, sobbing.   
“I’ll tell her, I promise.” Louis’ lower jaw shakes as the black ash turns Liam’s neck to stone.  
“I love you,” Louis admits sheepishly.

They’ve been travelling for three years; she feels it’s an okay time to admit that she doesn’t loathe Liam entirely.  
“'Quite right, too.'” Liam chokes out. “'And I suppose, if it’s my last chance to say it, Rose Tyler…'” Liam’s voice trails off and Louis chokes on a laugh and a sob.

What a fucking loser.   
“Goodbye.” Louis says, blinking tears from her lashes.   
“See you on the flipside.” Liam smiles and Louis laughs.

Even in death, she’s a fucking nerd.

Louis watches as Liam’s face hardens into stone, twisted up in pain and sadness.

Louis clenches her teeth and a single tear falls down her cheek in anguish. She grabs the Obelisk and throws it against the wall, hard. She hopes the metal shatters and breaks, that it’s destroyed and no one ever has to suffer at its touch again.

Sadly, she is just a girl and the device is made of alien metal, so it remains very much intact.

She stares at it, just resting on the ground innocuously, and decides that if all of these people have gotten hurt over this temple, she might as well finish the job.

She picks up the evil device and steels her shoulders before walking into the temple and slamming the Diviner onto the circular platform in the center of the room.

The room rumbles, dust falling as the doors begin to close, shutting her in.

Louis looks at them, unable to move, as the exits seal themselves off and she’s alone with the thing that killed her science nerd co-worker and her mother.  
“This is probably gonna hurt,” she says aloud, a pep-talk, “but you can handle this.”

She’s probably dealt with worse.

She turns back toward the Diviner and gasps when it [starts to open.](https://gifyoutube.com/gif/mLDZGY) Blue crystals poke out from inside of it, eerily beautiful. The metal part falls to rest against the table like a flower shedding its petals and the crystals begin to hiss.

Louis can’t move from fear when a burst of air flies out and knocks her backwards. She gasps when she adjusts her footing, kneeling, and frowns. She stands up, seemingly unhurt, and gasps.

She looks down at her hands when she feels something crawling on them and a scream builds in her throat.

She’s turning to ash.

She wasn’t worthy at all, it seems. The Kree tricked her into believing she was special just to kill her in the end.

She looks helplessly as the ash climbs her arms and her body. As it covers her mouth, she sobs out, knowing this is probably the end.

She closes her eyes.

She’s not sure how long she’s there, stuck like that, surrounded by ash. But when she wakes up, she can hear the sounds of someone shouting on the outside of the temple and can feel her body lift off the ground. Her arms go back with the force of her momentum as her cocoon sheds, burns off her skin, and her feet touch the floor again, unsteady.

Louis looks down at herself, at the burning ash surrounding her body, and takes a shaky breath.

What's happened to her?

She turns toward the doors as they begin to slowly creep open, dust crumbling to the floor. When they’ve opened enough for her to squeeze through, she grabs the Obelisk and ducks outside where she finds Niall kneeling on the floor and holding her head, an I.C.E.R. held to the back of her skull by Zayn.   
“Are you you again?” He’s asking, reciting it like a mantra.  
“I’m me, yeah.” She groans, sitting down on her bum to look up. “Lou?”   
“I’m _sorry_ ,” she frowns and then she’s crying and she’s not even sure why.

She sees a pile of dust and rock and sobs out Liam’s name. She’s in anguish, furious and terrified.

Who could create such a terrible, terrible device?   
“Lou,” they gasp, eyes wide.   
“I...She touched the...Obelisk...it was all my fault. She's dead...my fault...all mine.” Louis slams her eyes shut and falls to her knees, feeling the flicker of air around her bare arms.

Her shirt ruffles in the wind, but she ignores it and holds herself tighter.   
“Louis,” Zayn says delicately, “it’s okay.”  
“No, it’s _not_!” Louis shouts and opens her eyes.

The tunnels are lit now, flickering orange and blue from an unknown lightsource. Louis looks down at her body and squeals in terror.

She’s on fire.

It doesn’t hurt, is the thing. It feels like a cool breeze, like the skin on her arm is slightly damp.

She’s in awe.  
“How the fuck?” She gasps, tears in her eyes.  
“You’re on fire.” Niall stares at her, wide-eyed.  
“How do I turn it off?!” She breathes in, sharp, frantic.  
“Maybe you have to calm down.” Zayn supplies.  
“How?!” She looks down at her burning skin, helpless.

She’s anxious and frustrated and torn apart inside. Liam’s dead, Louis is an alien, Niall had been a servant to the temple. She has anxiety written into her genetic code.  
“I know a way.” She states after a moment, tears evaporating before they even fall.

She looks down at her clothes, which, surprisingly enough, are completely fine. She grabs the I.C.E.R. from her holster and holds it to her head before she fires two rounds and the fire goes dark.

-

“What happened to her?!” She starts waking up to someone—Harry—yelling.  
“We don’t know!” Zayn is yelling just as loud.  
“So she just went into the temple and became fucking _flame retardant_?” Harry scoffs. “This is  unbelievable!”   
“She’ll be fine, H.” Niall assures.   
“Just go.” Harry sighs after a moment. "I'll watch her."

Louis peeks her eyes open then, head pounding from the effects of the I.C.E.R. and maybe the aftereffects of the Kree transformation.  
“Lou,” Harry says and Louis notices that she’s in the quarantine container on the jet.

Good. 

Harry presses her hands against the glass, looking torn.   
“Hey, H.” Louis says pathetically.   
“How are you feeling?”   
“Like I was hit by a fuckin’ truck.” Louis rubs her temples.   
“A double dose of Dendrotoxin will do that to you.” Harry smiles.  
“It had to be done,” Louis shrugs. “I was on fire.”  
“I know.” Harry says softly. “I’ll get you something for your headache.”  
“Harry, wait—” Louis starts to say but she’s already gone.

Louis sits up and winces. How long was she out?  
“Lou,” Zayn says delicately as he edges his way toward the quarantine container.   
“Hey.” Louis smiles, but it’s fragile. An egg-shell of a smile.   
“I brought you some things. A quarantine kit, I suppose,” he smiles the same smile back as he places a bag into the transfer drawer. “Some comics and food and stuff. That lemonade’s only found in Pennsylvania, you know. I’ve been hoarding it for months.”  
“Thanks, Z.” Louis stands up, wobbling on her legs, and grabs it when Zayn closes the drawer.   
“No problem, mate.” He nods. “I’ll be back later with some tea, okay? We’ll have to talk about what happened.” 

Louis sighs because she’d really rather not and nods.   
“See you then.”

Zayn wanders away, leaving Louis with handmade comics and shitty lemonade.

She opens the pack up and pulls out a bottle of Lemonade. She doesn't recognize the brand but she opens it anyway.

It's tastes great, actually, and she's surprised.

Pennsylvania does have its perks, she supposes.

She rummages through the rest of the things and finds a puzzle. It’s the only thing that she considers worth her time at the moment—Zayn’s handmade comics are great, but she doesn’t want to risk burning them—so she dumps the five hundred pieces onto the bed and begins to work.

-

She fucking hates puzzles. She doesn’t know why she’d wanted to start the fucking thing anyway.

She shakes the sheets off her bed, searching for the last bastard of a piece.  
“It’s got to be here somewhere!” She shouts in exasperation as she ducks under the bed.

The room’s not lit well, so it’s a vast spans of dark space under the bed.

Louis decides she needs a torch or something. But how will she get one?

No one’s been down to see her since Zayn three hours ago and she gets the feeling that she’ll be spending a lot of her time alone.

She huffs, exasperated, and wonders if she could turn her fire on, but only in her fingertips.

It’s worth a shot, she thinks, and sits up from under the bed.

“Concentrate,” she says loud, firm.

She thinks about the flame licking her palm, the cool breeze of fire as it covers her fingers only.

She can manage a fire on her fingertips. It won’t be everywhere.

But apparently it doesn’t work like that because Louis is a ball of flames, cool air licking her bare arms, scorching the floor under her bare feet before she even thinks too hard about it.  
“Louis!” someone shouts and she turns, frown drawn onto her face as flames lick her eye sockets. “What are you doing?!” Harry shouts, banging on the glass.

Louis shakes her head, sobbing because she can’t control it, she can’t and she’s panicking and panicking results in bigger flames and this is too much, too soon.   
“I don’t know!” Louis replies and she falls to her knees as the fire spikes with her anxiety, sending flames high and hot enough to singe the glass separating her madness from Harry.

They climb high, tendrils of gorgeous red and blue fire, and set off the sprinklers.

The water douses them, cooling the fire of flames she can’t feel. She sobs as she’s soaked in freezing water, the hissing of her flames hurting worse than the flames themselves ever have, flesh cooking to feed cannibals.  
“Louis?!” Harry shouts, kneeling to look at her through the transparent door. 

Louis can’t speak, is in too much pain to do anything but hold herself and cry, so that’s what she does.

-

She must fall asleep because she wakes up dry and in the holding cell of the plane.

They must have decided she was too dangerous and locked her up in a cell an Asgardian couldn’t escape.  
“You’re awake.” Louis sits up too fast when she hears a voice, skin tickled with invisible flames.

She still feels them, like a piece of her is missing. It’s odd and confusing and she doesn’t like this feeling at _all_.   
“Who’re you?” Louis frowns, bitter, at the man.

He’s got a kind face, but his scarred knuckles say something else.   
“I’m Dr. Mitchell.” He smiles and it’s soft, unlike his calloused hands. “I’m here to evaluate you so we can either put you on the index or leave you off of it.”   
“And by leaving me off it, you mean locking me up in the Fridge.” Louis deadpans. “And use my power.”

She knows how this works. She’s been with S.H.I.E.L.D. too long for her to be ignorant.  
“Yes,” he nods solemnly. “Zayn called—”   
“He _called_ you?” Louis says, awed.  
“Well, yes, but he—”   
“I cannot believe this shit,” Louis shakes her head, laughing because she’d probably cry if she didn’t.

Zayn had betrayed her, given her to S.H.I.E.L.D. on a silver platter. It’s disgusting. He's disgusting.  
“He just wants the best for you,” the dark-skinned man sighs. “I’m a close friend of his.”   
“The _best_ for me?!” Louis says incredulously. “What’s best for me is to be human again! Is for this...disease to vaporize faster than my tears did! I didn’t want this, you know, I just didn’t want Liam to die in vain!”  
“Why did she die?” Dr. Mitchell asks and Louis wants to punch him.  
“Because she...I...the Obelisk touched her and she turned to stone. How the fuck do you _think_ she died?!”   
“The exact way she did.” Dr. Mitchell smiles. “What about Niall? What happened to her?”   
“The Kree—fucking alien fuckers—made her their bitch!”   
“Can you elaborate?”   
“Can I _elaborate_?” Louis narrows her eyes, flames leaping off her skin and dying out quickly. “Her eyes turned red and she could only talk about “the Diviner” and how it “would save us all”. She only obeyed me because I could hold the fucking thing.”   
“Why were you able to hold it?”   
“Because I am apparently worthy,” Louis scoffs. “Which is a load of crap, if you ask me. What was I worthy of?!”   
“Having a gift, maybe.” Dr. Mitchell says.   
“A gift, my ass.” Louis snaps.

She can’t believe this shit. She’s been betrayed by the man she’d called her best mate! How unbelievable.   
“It is, though. You brought them the Obelisk and the Kree gave you the gift of internalized fire.”   
“Is that what is now? Because I heard Harry call it a hideously grotesque thing while I burned!”   
“You weren’t burning,” Dr. Mitchell shakes his head. “You were being watered down.”   
“It felt like I was burning.” Louis throws her body down onto the bed in the corner of the room dramatically. “I felt like I was on fire, being toasted over a fire like a fucking marshmallow.”

“Well, that’s why they moved you here. The sprinkler system has been deactivated in here and the metal won’t melt.”   
“Everything melts,” Louis says dryly. “Somethings just need a little more heat.”   
“Is that what you were trying to do in quarantine? Melt your way out?”   
“Fuck no.” Louis says, repulsed. “I was trying to look for a missing puzzle piece, you ignorant fuck.”

This guy’s a fucking idiot. How did he even get a degree?! Why had S.H.I.E.L.D. even hired him? He’s more ignorant than Louis is and she’s a field agent with no degree.  
“Calm down.” Dr. Mitchell says. “What happened when you entered the temple?”   
“The first or the second time?”   
“The last time.”

Louis takes the time to throw her hair up into a sleek ponytail before she answers, glancing down at the hospital scrubs someone had dressed her in while she slept.

Someone on her team had seen her _naked!_ How horribly creepy and revolting.   
“I slammed the Diviner down onto the table in the center of the room and then the doors slid shut.”   
“Were you scared?”   
“No.” Louis shakes her head. “I was terrified, but I’m trained for stressful situations, so I remained calm. The Diviner opened and these blue crystals rose out of it.”   
“What are they called?”   
Louis looks at him, exasperated. Like she fucking knows.   
“You don’t know?” He frowns.   
“No, I'm not a fucking alien, you ignoramus.” Her eyes are wide as she snaps the words at him like a whip. “Anyway, the metal of the Obelisk opened up and it was...it was beautiful.” Louis smiles faintly because it was.

A flower shedding its petals.  
“And then the crystals sort of...released this mist that made my body be covered with a chrysalis. You know, like a caterpillar?”  
“Yes,” Dr. Mitchell nods.   
“After a moment or so, the cocoon began to shed and I was able to move again. I was me, but with fire built into my cells.”  
“What do you remember after exiting the temple?”  
“I...had the Obelisk with me, right?” She’s having quite a difficult time recalling and she doesn’t know why.   
“Yes. We recovered that before the temple collapsed.”   
“It _collapsed_?” She asks, stunned.   
“Yes. Don’t you remember?”   
“Not at all.” She shakes her head. “I remember...flames...and then I was cold…I think I I.C.E.-d myself.”   
“You did,” he nods, “but the flames didn’t die. They spread from your skin into the tunnels and collapsed the temple right in on itself.”   
“Oh my God.” Louis sits up, hand over her mouth. “I did that?”   
“Yes and that’s why they’re all so concerned for your well being.”

Louis stands up and paces across the room, wishing there was a window so she could look at the clouds and clear her head.   
“Where are we right now?”   
“We were somewhere near Virginia the last time I checked.” He shrugs. “But we could be in Norway by now. I haven’t been out of this room in hours.”  
“Go get some coffee, doc!” Louis suggests. “And bring me back some tea, yeah? Don’t let Zayn’s traitorous hands touch it, though.”

Louis doesn’t appreciate betrayal.  
“I’ll be back in a bit, okay?”   
“Sure, doc. Whatever. Just tell them to turn the camera off in a bit so I can piss in peace.”

-

The doctor doesn’t come back with her tea.

Instead it’s Zayn with his traitorous paws all over a perfectly innocent cup of Yorkshire.

Louis ignores his existence and crosses her arms across her chest dramatically.  
“Lou, come on.” He sighs, pulling the interrogation chair over so it’s near her bed.

It’s still a good foot and a half away, though. A safety zone in case Louis burns.   
“I have tea for you,” he whispers, “and a visit from Harry, if you want it.”   
“No!” She shouts. “I don’t want anything from you.”   
“Relax, Lou—”   
“I will not relax,” she sneers. “I’m flame retardant and my cells are internally fired and I am not _relaxed_.”   
“Stay calm—” Zayn takes three steps backwards, placing the cup of Yorkshire down onto the table.

There’s probably a roofie or six in there to knock Louis out so they can run tests on her and turn her into a fucking science project.

She’ll be damned if she lets that happen.

She won't become S.H.I.E.L.D.'s bitch.  
“Get the fuck out,” she snaps, “before I roast your ass.”

Zayn stares at her, wide-eyed.   
“And take your roofie tea with you.” She lays back down and stares at the ceiling, cross.

A few moments later, she hears the door open and close and sighs in frustration.

She needs off this fucking jet.

-

The next time the door opens, it’s because someone’s decided she’s worth feeding.

She doesn’t eat it, though, too worried about someone drugging her and cutting her open to nurse her gurgling stomach.

Only a few minutes after she places the tray onto the floor by the door, the door reopens and Harry walks in.  
“What’s going on?” She asks, blunt.

She’s always been that way; to the point and straightforward.   
“They’ve caged me up, H.” Louis replies with a shrug. “And I think they’re drugging my food so I won’t eat it.”   
“Why?”   
“Because they want to cut me open and do experiments on me! Or lock me up in the Fridge where they can try to ‘tame’ my power, but it’ll only grow stronger!”  
“Oh,” Harry frowns. “Well, what if I make you dinner? We can go on our little date that we bet on and you lost.”   
“It wasn’t a weapon.” Louis muses.   
“No, it was an evolutionary tool.” Harry grins.   
“Fine. I would like a ham and cheese sandwich and an unopened bottle of water.”   
“Sounds like a plan,” she smiles, walking toward Louis, “my wo _man_.”   
“That was so lame,” Louis smiles.   
“It rhymed.” Harry smiles proudly. “I’ll go make your sandwich now.”   
“If they’d let me out of here, I’d be glad to do it myself.”   
“How about I just bring the supplies, then? And then you can make your own.”   
“Thank you.” Louis says and Harry nods, leaning down and kissing Louis’ cheek softly, lips pink and lipstick-free.  
“No problem,” and then she’s gone.

Louis can’t fight the grin on her face as she squeals.

-

“I brought ham and provolone because Zayn said it was your favourite.” Harry enters the room, backpack held in her arms.   
“It is,” Louis sighs, sad. “Thank you.”

Harry nods and sits down on the bed next to Louis. Louis scoots away because she does not want to inadvertently hurt Harry with her reckless flames.  
“Let’s eat.” Harry says, lips red with lipstick, as she unpacks the food.

Louis begins to pile the stuff onto her sandwich. When she’s placed the last perfect piece of cheese onto the bread, she puts the bread on top. She doesn’t eat it until Harry takes a bite of her own, though, still paranoid.

She eats quickly, but still mannerly, aware that she’s sort of on a date with a girl she’s been in sort of like with for months.  
“Does the water burn?” Harry asks as she pulls out two pieces of cake. “I saw you crying and…”   
“It did.” Louis nods. “It felt like the fire was actually touching me when the water put it out.”   
“Shit,” Harry muses, frowning.  
“Shit is right.” Louis is glad Harry didn’t apologize.

She hates when people apologize for things that are out of their control.   
“Can I…” Harry starts to say, but then pauses. “Is it okay if I...if I kiss you?”   
“I don’t want to hurt you.” Louis says with wide eyes.   
“You won’t.” Harry promises and then smiles.  
“I might.”   
“No, you won’t.” Harry leans in and presses her lips to Louis’ firm.

Louis reaches her hands up to grasp Harry’s hair, opening her mouth under Harry's, before she realizes what’s happened.

She’s been drugged with lipstick, like she’s in the S.S.R. with Agent Carter or something.

Her fingers slip from Harry’s hair, uncoordinated.   
“You…” She starts to say, but her tongue fails her.  
“I’m sorry.” Harry says but she doesn’t look it. “But I had to do it for the safety of the team.”   
“Fuck you.” Louis manages to say as her eyes shut.

She’s never been more betrayed.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this! Thanks for reading! If you liked this, keep an eye out for the other girl direction one shots that'll be coming out soon.
> 
> Kudos and comments are endlessly appreciated! Your feedback means the world to me! x


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